António Maria Restolho Mateus Pinheiro - ICVS, University of Minho
Title: EXPLORING TIME-DEPENDENT ANATOMICAL AND FUNCTIONAL CORRELATES OF ADULT HIPPOCAMPAL CYTOGENESIS IN YOUNGADULTS RATS
Abstract:
Impaired ability to generate new cells in the adult brain has been linked to deficits in multiple emotional and cognitive behavioral domains. However, the mechanisms by which the abrogation of post-natal neural stem cells impacts on brain homeostasis and function remains controversial. Here, we used a transgenic rat line, the GFAP-Tk line, to selectively eliminate neural stem cells and assess the repercussion on different behavioral domains. We adopted two parallel experimental timeframes, to study both short-term and long-term effects of cytogenesis ablation (1 week post-ablation and 4 weeks post-ablation, respectively). Moreover, we conducted in vivo electrophsyiological analysis to assess the effects of cytogenesis ablation on the electrophysiological signatures of the hippocampal and prefrontal cortex regions. Our results show that the short-term repercussions of post-natal cytogenesis ablation are restricted to anxiety behavior. Contrastingly, cytogenesis abrogation promoted the late manifestation of anhedonic and anxiogenic deficits, along with multi-dimensional cognitive impairments. Furthermore, we found that cytogenesis ablation impaired electrophysiological function between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which are likely to contribute to the described cognitive alterations. Altogether, we describe a progressive time-dependent manifestation of emotional and cognitive impairments following cytogenesis ablation, supporting a differential role of immature vs mature cells in the modulation of different behavioral dimensions within the adult brain.
Title: EXPLORING TIME-DEPENDENT ANATOMICAL AND FUNCTIONAL CORRELATES OF ADULT HIPPOCAMPAL CYTOGENESIS IN YOUNGADULTS RATS
Abstract:
Impaired ability to generate new cells in the adult brain has been linked to deficits in multiple emotional and cognitive behavioral domains. However, the mechanisms by which the abrogation of post-natal neural stem cells impacts on brain homeostasis and function remains controversial. Here, we used a transgenic rat line, the GFAP-Tk line, to selectively eliminate neural stem cells and assess the repercussion on different behavioral domains. We adopted two parallel experimental timeframes, to study both short-term and long-term effects of cytogenesis ablation (1 week post-ablation and 4 weeks post-ablation, respectively). Moreover, we conducted in vivo electrophsyiological analysis to assess the effects of cytogenesis ablation on the electrophysiological signatures of the hippocampal and prefrontal cortex regions. Our results show that the short-term repercussions of post-natal cytogenesis ablation are restricted to anxiety behavior. Contrastingly, cytogenesis abrogation promoted the late manifestation of anhedonic and anxiogenic deficits, along with multi-dimensional cognitive impairments. Furthermore, we found that cytogenesis ablation impaired electrophysiological function between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which are likely to contribute to the described cognitive alterations. Altogether, we describe a progressive time-dependent manifestation of emotional and cognitive impairments following cytogenesis ablation, supporting a differential role of immature vs mature cells in the modulation of different behavioral dimensions within the adult brain.